154 ESSAY ON 



offspring of a lion.* It is, however, more generally 

 called Lancet in the Piiran'as, and is represented there 

 as the country of Ravana, or Rdban, the brother of 

 Ciivera ; and both were born at the extremities of 

 the world, in the N. W. As he was contemporary 

 with Ra'machandra, if there ever was such a being", 

 he must have lived about, 1800 years before Christ. 

 The wars of Ra'vana in Lancd^ and the adjacent 

 countries, are famous all over Iijdia, and make an era 

 in the history of Ceylon. Traditionary legends in 

 that island say, that in consequence of this bloody 

 war, the island was depopulated, and remained in that 

 state for 1845 years, being only inhabited by Daityas, 

 or rather savage tribes. Ceylon was afterwards called 

 Salaroa, or 'Sdlavam according to F. Bartholomeo, 

 from the 'Suleyas, a certain tribe in India, called also 

 in the Purdn'as 'Sdlavas. The famous peak of Adam 

 was called ^Salmala, or the mountain of ^Sala. It is 

 mentioned in the commentary on the Siirya-Sidd''hanta ; 

 in which it is said, that Maya the offspring of the 

 Sun, by the daughter of the divine Twashtd in the 

 west, came from Rbmaca-nagara, or Rome to the 

 mountain of Sdlmala in Lancd, to make iapasya in 

 honour of the sun, in order to obtain astronomical 

 knowledge from him. Another name for it is Sdmd- 

 nala from Saiimya-Nala another son of Twashtd, who 

 built Ra'ma's bridge. Twashtd is the chief engineer 

 of the gods, and his grand-son Maya of the Daityas. 



The appellation of 'Salica, or ^Sdlice, as it was 

 called by ancient geograghers of the second century, 

 is also a regular derivative form in Sanscrit, from 

 ^Sdli or 'aSV///5 ; this denomination was unknown to 

 Pliny. According to F. Bartholomeo, and former 



* As. Res. V. vii. p. 48. 



